1-085 - Validating Hair Cortisol as a Biomarker of Chronic Stress in Early Childhood

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Chronic early life stress shapes the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to dysfunctional stress biology that contributes to adverse long-term health outcomes. To understand mechanisms underlying these effects, a chronic stress biomarker is needed. Hair cortisol indexes cumulative cortisol exposure that, unlike salivary cortisol, is not distorted by daily fluctuations. Hair cortisol is rapidly gaining popularity in developmental research, yet validation studies are needed to inform interpretation of this new measure.

This symposium, which examines hair cortisol in early childhood populations with varying levels of adversity, is interdisciplinary and international, bringing together presenters from psychology and psychiatry and data from the U.S. and Pakistan. The first paper reports that Early Head Start children’s hair cortisol has higher temporal stability than salivary or urinary measures, is elevated in low-income children, and is correlated with maternal hair cortisol. The second paper shows that infant hair cortisol is associated with infant salivary cortisol and maternal physiological and perceived stress, and demonstrates a link between EEG activity and hair cortisol. The third paper discusses methodological considerations and documents temporal stability of hair cortisol in low-risk infants and mothers. The fourth paper reports that in a large cohort of highly disadvantaged Pakistani children, socioeconomic risk in girls is associated with lower hair cortisol, suggesting hypo-responsivity of the HPA axis due to extreme chronic stress. These four papers support hair cortisol’s validity as a biomarker of chronic early life stress, while underscoring the importance of considering gender, age, culture, and severity of adversity in interpreting hair cortisol.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes

Chairs

• Amanda R Tarullo, Boston University

• Jelena Obradovic, Stanford University

Individual Presentations

• Validation of Hair Cortisol as a Proxy Indicator of Toxic Stress in Early Head Start Participants: A Multisite Validation - Presenting Author: Mark L Laudenslager, Univerisity of Colorado Denver School of Medicine; Michelle Sarche, University of Colorado at Denver; Sarah E Watamura, University of Denver; John Constantino, Washington University in St. Louis

• Infant Hair Cortisol as a Chronic Stress Index: Links to Salivary Cortisol, Maternal Stress, and High-Frequency Neural Activity - Presenting Author: Amanda R Tarullo, Boston University; Ashley St. John, Boston University; Jerrold S Meyer, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Stability of Hair Cortisol in Postpartum Mothers and Infants at 9 and 12 months - Presenting Author: Cindy H. Liu, Harvard University; Nancy C Snidman, Children's Hospital; Alexandra Leonard, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Jerrold S Meyer, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Edward Z Tronick, Children's Hosp/Harvard Med Schl

• Hair Cortisol in Highly Disadvantaged Children in Rural Pakistan: Relations with Socioeconomic Status and Children’s Adaptation - Presenting Author: Jelena Obradovic, Stanford University; Ximena A. Portilla, Stanford University; Aisha Khizar Yousafzai, Aga Khan University